What Makes Science Fun? An  outreach  event  by  Karolinska’s  Developmental  Biology  &  Regenerative  Medicine  unit  shows  us  why  “science  is  fun”  By  David  Malone      

Ask most scientists what they enjoy about their job and you can be sure the answer will be, the sense of wonder & excitement at being the first to make a discovery and understand the world that bit better. Certainly a tricky experience to describe, but KI’s DBRM unit was determined to exhibit this idea to the public and convince them that, science is fun. The motivation of many of the young scientists involved in this outreach event was a desire to demystify the view of science as stuffy and boring. A daunting task as the working lives of many doctoral students and post-docs are filled with endless days of western blots or staining cells, to ultimately add one arrow to a poster describing a vast network of principals. With most days

like this the underlying reason of why the job is fun can be forgotten. Through this interaction with the public, explaining their research and ideas of what nerve cells and stem cells are and do in our body, they were reminded of how amazing the work, that has become routine in their lives, truly is. Nowhere was this clearer than in the mock lab, set-up to demonstrate how scientists grow nerve cells from stem cells. Pipetting of coloured liquids and observing nerve cells under a microscope fascinated many of the participants and led to various questions of how the stem cells are cultured to become neurones. Thanks to the abundant

creativity used to explain challenging concepts, this sense of wonder could be seen everywhere with a brief look around the event. From using liquorice string and marshmallows to explain DNA packing in cells, to using pipe cleaners to show how

1 nerves in the brain inter-connect. A quick poll among the children clearly showed the highlights to be, a hands-on demonstration of DNA extraction from strawberries, and a twister-like game designed to explain cell differentiation. No doubt leading some of them to a life long desire to understand the world.

Thus a joyous feedback loop was created, with the scientists engaging with the public eager to explain their research, who in turn were captivated and astonished with the explanations of how stem cells and nerves work. Their excitement reminding the scientists that science, is indeed, fun.

25 March 2013